what is lignin??

twig

twig

LIGNIN: is a organic substance which, together with cellulose, forms the essential part of woody tissue, making up the greater part of the weight of dry wood.
 
I heard a forest pathologist break it down in a lecture like this: Think of wood as reinforced concrete. Lignin is the hard, inflexible concrete. Cellulose is the strong, but flexible rebar matrix within it. Together they give wood, and trees a durable combination of rigidity, strength and flexibility, which neither component alone possesses. Without lignin, wood is too soft to support a significant load. Without cellulose, it has no flexibility, and breaks rather than bending under a load.
 
Cerviararborist has a good analogy there. I have a little article on wood decomposition and humus breakdown that sketches out the biology a little and is here: http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/jrnl/2010/nrs_2010_smith-k_002.pdf.
One thing to keep in mind is that the cell walls of grasses and other non-woody plants also have lignin, but in smaller quantities than in woody plants. For the paper industry, lignin is a real nuisance in that it interferes with pulping and paper production. Most of chemical research literature concerns with how to get rid of lignin!
 
Shigo called it the glue that holds trees together. I picture cambium like fish roe or eggs (cambium is sticky jelly like) and it becomes wood when lignified. Callus has very little lignin, woundwood is lignified as wood is. In my first copy of New Tree Biology there was no mention of a difference between callus and woundwood, it was all callus. In later books woundwood/callus dif. was mentioned.
 
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I really like Shigo's work. I study his writings. I am also lucky to know a tree biologist who worked under him. I am always trying to learn. Treevet I may be mistaken but I think cabium has alot of suberin in it, the tree produces it. Suberin waterproofs the cambium layer and bark. It is very hydrophobic. KTSmith thank you for the article I am always learning from you.
 
KTSmith said:
For the paper industry, lignin is a real nuisance in that it interferes with pulping and paper production. Most of chemical research literature concerns with how to get rid of lignin!
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I've heard of a way--make pulp out of another plant! Not much lignin in the hemp plant is there?
 
Sure, all kinds of plant fiber can be made into paper! The trick is to have the characteristics that people need (or think they need) such as tear strength, opacity, brightness, etc. Cost, of course. Long wood fibers work pretty well! The hemp paper I've seen has been pretty chunky. No, I don't know about the pulping dynamics and residues, but I'm sure folks are working on it!
 
KTSmith said:
Sure, all kinds of plant fiber can be made into paper! The trick is to have the characteristics that people need (or think they need) such as tear strength, opacity, brightness, etc. Cost, of course. Long wood fibers work pretty well! The hemp paper I've seen has been pretty chunky. No, I don't know about the pulping dynamics and residues, but I'm sure folks are working on it!
Click to expand...
That's good to hear; there must be a more sustainable source than plantations of Pinus taeda, and the tons of SO2 released during delignification.
 
There's hemp paper out there that is nearly identical to wood paper. There is just a very slight feel that's different, such as new paper vs recycled... I belive much of the color and texture has to do with marketing to a select crowd, and not the ability of the materials. The largest opponent to hemp has been the chemical companies, since hemp takes way fewer chems to break down the fibers.
 
In Thailand they have a factory that makes paper from Elephant pies.
Sorry for contributing to the derail.:eek:

I am actually very interested in learning more about the effects of different kinds of fungi on lignin, cellouse and hemicellulose. The way I remember that white rot is primarily responsible for decaying lignin, is that lignin sounds like White linens.
 
It may effect performance of the paper in copying and printing applications (the bulk of the paper use today). Copiers more so than printers can be susceptible to a build up of paper dust more prevalent in recycled papers than virgin paper. This may also be an issue with hemp paper, not sure. Its been a long time since I was involved in that industry.
 
I dont think the printers get clogged up from the hemp paper. They just slow down a lot and get a mean case of the munchies...

I, on the other hand, tend to get clogged up from the hemp paper.
 
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